Body construction and toe-board bracket



J. M GLASHAN ET AL BODY CONSTRUCTION AND TOE'BOARD BRACKET -Fi1ed Auk. 1s.

A TTORNE Y s moor.

AND wanna a.- myns, or roan, PENNSYLVANIA,

assrenons cannon, or you, rannsravanm, A coaronarron or sons cons'rnucrron m) non-eon eaacxnr.

' Application ai'ea August 1s,.1e21.- Serial-No. 491,898

. To all whom it may co rwm': Be it known that we, JAMES McGnAsHAN,

a subject of the Kingof En land,rresiding at York, Pennsylvania, an

York, Pennsylvafiiafahd WALTER Ammon Mares, a citizen of the United States,resid- 'ing at York; Pennsylvania, and'whosepostofiice address is No. 252 East Kin Street,

.York', Pennsylvania, have invent certain- Body Connew and useful Improvements in of which structions and Toe-Board Brackets, the following is a specification.

This invention relates to vehicle bodies features'of these improvements are of general a plication to other and heavier'type.

ofbo es.m y. ,1 v One object of the invention is'an improved so vehicle body and especially the front corner construction embodying "a novel construction and arrangement of combined end and side frame members and atoe or foot board vmember'servin as a brace and-armor for the frame mem rs, and as a support for the floor boards of standard bodies, as will appear more particularl hereinafter.

Another object of t e invention is such a construction and assembly that certain parts of the body may ice-readily shipped in a knocked down condition and car space conserved by reason of the articular constructional arrangement, an which arts may be with equal facility re-assembed into a rigid-body frame when desired.

Another object of this invention is to provide a bracket that-will not only pro erly support that portion of thefioor boar s of an automobile or wagon body, known as the toe boards, but that will .at the same time be stron ,durable. and cheap, and while acting as a racket for surting the said toe boards will also be re-- i 7 attachable andv whosev posti 6 oifice address is No.15; South Pine Street,

although as will hereinafter appear certain corner construction and assemblyof a motor.

detachable from the body members'to which it is attached, while also serving as a. strong and effective corner plate for joining tov gather the sub-sills of the body and the main members of the frame of the wind shield.

'- The most usual form of bracket which has heretofore been used for supporting the toe.

boards of such a body has consisted.- of a triangular block of 'wood which has been permanently fastened, by glue or other means, to the top of the sub-sill at its front end, and by the use of bolts or screws, with or without clips, has also been attached to the wind shield; in some cases metal strips or plates. have been used to wooden toe' board brackets. Such wooden brackets-have not, however, been entirelysatisfactory for several reasons, among which may be mentioned the splitting. of the bracket itself, as well as the difiiculty of securing as strong a joint between the bracket and the wind shield as is desired. ,Where such automobile or we on bodies are manufactured in \units, 'an shipped in knocked-down condition from the factory to distributing points or to the user, one of the rincipal objections of such wooden brac ets has been vhe fact tht the brack being permanently-fastened to the sub-sill increases materially the vertical space oc-" cu ied by: the floor unit at this point of the,

being required both in the factory for storing and handling the said units whilethey arein rocess of construction, as wellas materia 1y increasing the cost of tr'ansporta tion of the floor units when shipped by rail or otherwise. i

With these andother objects in. view, as

reinforce such b y, thusresulting in greater cubical space will be more clearly pointed out hereinafter,

this invention consists of a body construetionand metal toe board bracket substantially as shown in the annexed drawin and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

Figure 1 shows an oblique or perspective view of a portion of the front end of an automobile or wagon body with the im-' roved toe board bracket applied thereto. igure 2 is a front endelevation of the bracket itself, and Figure 3 is a side elevation as viewed from the left in Figure 1. Referring now to the drawings in which the same reference characters relate to the same or correspondingparts in all the views numeral 10 indicates one of the sub-sills which form the foundation for the floor of the body; 11 is the step board resting on the sub-sill 10 to which it is intended to be fas-. tened in the usual manner; 12 generally denotes the improved toe board bracket, made preferably of a single piece of sheet steel; the said bracket 12 being so shaped and formed as to com rise a main vertical web a 12 the lower portlon of which extends down along-the side of the sub-sill 10 to which it is fastened by the bolts 13 and co-acting nuts 14; the said bolts 13 passing through the holes 15 and 16 formed in the vertical web of the bracket for this purpose. Formed on the firont vertical edge of the vertical web of the bracket is a flange 17 bent outward and at right angles to the said vertical web; the bolts 18 with their con acting nuts 19 serving to fasten the said web for a short distance when the material is .bent downward to form a short vertical web at and the sheetis again bent inward and at right angles to the bottom of theweb 24: to form an obliquely inclined projecting flange 25, the bottom corner 25' ofwhich rests on the sub-sill 10, which forms a support for it as shown in Figure 1. Thefront face or ed of the flange 23, the vertical web 24 and the flange 25 are all trimmed so as to be vertically in line with the front face of the flange 17, whereby these. faces a all rest against and are supported by the rear face of the wind shield. I

The step boardmember 11 is'cut away as indicated along the inner edge to permit that portion of the vertical web 12' lying below the level of the rear edge 23' of the flange 23 to clear the member 11, and the rear edge 23 or end of the flange 23 stops substantially flush with the top level of the member 11. V

In order. to enable the bracket 12 to be used interchangeably with the wooden brackets which have heretofore been used, as well as with the standardized toe boards,

sub-sills, step boards, wind shield frames and other units, whereby there is no change involved in any of the several units through the substitution of this metal bracket for the usual wooden ones, the height and slope. of the inclined edge of the vertical web of the bracket 12 are made such as to bring this edge exactly to the same point as or on Z a level with the top edge of the wooden bracket, which it is intended to replace, and larly located in respect to; the subneraoao sill 10; and the width of flange 23 is similarly made such as to place the vertical web 24 and the horizontally projecting flange 25 in exactly the same position with respect to the sub-sill 10 as the rabbeted edge of the usual wooden bracket occupies, and the width' of the horizontally projecting flange 25 is such, that the distance from its innermost edge to the outer face of the vertical web of the bracket 12 is equal to the thichess of theusual wooden bracket, which is usually the same as the thickness of the sub- 1 sill 10, whereby the toe boards 26 and 27 may be of thesame length and will be supported in the-same way as they would be by the usual wooden bracket. Rotatably fastened to the flange 23 by the rivet 28 is a cli 29, such as is usually fastened to the woo en bracket to hold the toe board 27 in its proper place and at the same time to permit its ready removal when desired.

Formed in the lower right hand corner of the vertical web of bracket 12 is an oblong hole 30, so sha ed and positioned as to enable the usual bo t which passes through atthis point to be readily applied to the sub-sill for attaching the mounting iron by which the body is fastened to the frame of the vehicle, this hole 30 thus permitting the mounting iron to be applied in its usual way, the shape of the hole 30 providing for tlll) adjustment to compensate for inaccuracies,

and at the same time enabling the surrounding portion of the vertical web of the bracket to act as a metal armor to prevent the said bracket from abrading the wooden sill. Formed near the central portion ofthe lower edge of the vertical web of bracket '12 is'a hole 31, so shaped and positioned as to enable the bolt to be passed through it to attach in the usual way the usual step board IL iron for bracing the said step board, the surrounding portion of the vertical web of bracket 12 similarly acting as a metal armor to prevent abrading of the sub-sill by the said step board iron. Formed in the upper portion of the vertical web of bracket'12 are the two holes 32 and 33, so shaped and positioned as to enable the fore door of certain styles ofbodies to be attached in the usual way and by the usual fastenings and in an interchangeable manner, regardless of whether the usual wooden bracket is used or our improved metal bracket.

It is to be particularly noted that the vertical flange 17 projecting outward from the front edge of-the vertical web of the bracket ,12 enables the bolts by which the wind shield frame is attached to the sub-sills 10 to be placed in the stile or main verticalmember 20 of-the said wind shield. thus making any strains between these members which react on the wind shield come on the main frame of it instead of the horizontal panel boards 34 as has heretofore been the usual practice where the wooden toe board bracket has been used, since the outermostedge of the said wooden toe board bracket does not usually lie beyond the end of the said horizontal panel boards and they are accordingly fas'- ;struction of a particularly strong andendurablecharacter .is obtained, notwithstandingthe comparatively light and slender construction of the body, the bracket 12 serving asa brace to reinforce the body members,

of a rigid and strong form which can with: stand the rough usage usually encountered in commercial bodies. At the same time, as

above pointed out the bracket 12 is easily appliedito practically all standard body constructions, and can therefore be interchangeably applied to standard forms.

In accordance with thepatent statutes we have set forth one complete embodiment of the invention in the specific manner required thereby but it is understood that the claims annexed hereto are not to be construed ,as limited to the particular devices set forth, except as specifically recited therein, but are to be given a construction commensurate with the spirit of the invention with due regard to ag'consideration of the prior art.

Having described our invention, what we claim as newand desire to secureby Letters Patent is: p i Y 1. A body construction for vehicles comprising a sub-sill, 2? wind shield stile and a toe board bracket of integrally formed sheet metal having a vertical web attached to the side of said sub-sill and a vertical flange formed at right angles to the web and abutting againstthe face of the stile and attached thereto, said web having an inclined upper edge which is turned over and inwardly to form a support for the toe board.

2. Abody construction for vehicles comprising a sub-sill, a wind shield stile and a toe boardbracket ofintegrally formed sheet metal having a vertical web attached to the side of and armoring said sub-sill and a vertical flange formed at right angles to the web and turned outwardly from the front 'edge thereof, said flange abutting agalnsto the face of the stile and attached thereto,

and said web having an inclined up er edge.

which is turned to form an incline surface flush with the toe boards and then downwardly and inwardly to form a support for the toe boards, the rearmost end of the sup port bearing on the sub-sill.

3. A body oonstructionfor vehicles comprising a sub-sill, a windshield stile vertically, disposed and at right angles to the sub- $111 a step board mounted on the sub-sill an having its end abutting against the stile, a metallic bracket of integral formation for bracing said'numbers and forming a rigid body structure having a vertical web securely attached to the sub-sill, a vertical flange turned at right angles to the .web and "securely fastened to said stile, a second flange at right angles to the web but inclined downwardly and backwardly with its rear edge flush with the uppersurface of the step board, and said inclined flange having 1 its edge turned downwardly and then at right angles to form a supporting ledge for the downwardly and rearwardly inclined I floor boards, the lower ledge of the supportarmor them and otherwise render the body cally disposed and at right angles to the sub-sill, windshield panels carried by said stile, the end-of the sub-sill abutting loosely againstthe panels, a step board mounted on ,the sub-sill and having its end abutting against the stile, a metallic bracket of i'ntegral formation for bracing said members and forming a rigid body structurehaving a vertical web securely attached to the outside of said sub-sill, a vertical flange turned outwardly at ri ht angles to the web and securely fastene to said stile, a second flange formed on the upper edge of said web and at right angles but inclined downwardly and backwardly with its front edge terminating flush with the first named flange and its rear edge flush with the upper surfaoe of the step board, and said inclmed flange having its ledge turned downwardly and then at right angles to form asupporting ed for the downwardl the lower ledge of t e supporting edge resting upon the sub-sill, and said step board being cut away to clear the web and vertical flange.

inclined floor boar s, I

5. An integrally formed sheet metal corner reinforcing P am and toe board bracket for vehicle bodies comprisin a vertical web for attachment to the sub-si l of the vehicle and a vertical flange formed on the forward edge of the web at right an Ice thereto for attachment to the vertical rame member, said web having a downwardly and backwardly inclined upper edge which is turned over to' form a supporting ledge for the toe boards.

6. An iutegrallyformed sheet metal corner late toe board armoring and ing liracket for vehicle bodies comprising a vertical web for attachment to the bra'cnae sub-sill of the vehicle and a vertical flange formed on the forward edge of the web and turned outwardly at ri ht angles thereto fer attachment to a vertica frame member, said web having a downwardly and backwardly inclined upper ed e which is first turned over inwardly at right angles thereto, then downwardly parallel thereto and again inwardly at right angles thereto to form a supporting, ledge for the ends of the toe boards, thefront edges of the bracket being trimmed ofl flush with the vertical flange.

'7. An integrally formed sheet metal corner plate toe board, armoring and bracing bracket for vehicle bodies comprisin .-a

vertical web for attachment to the longitw.

. dinal frame member of a vehicle body, said web being first turned over on its upper edge to form a downwardly and backwardly inclined plane surface and then downwardly and inwardly to form a supporting ledge for the ends of the toe boards ofthe vehicle and a vertical flange formed on the forward edge of the web and turned outwardly at right angles thereto, said vertical flange terminating, flush with the upper edge of Y the aforesaid plane surface.

8. An integrally formed sheet metal toe board, armoring and bracing bracket for vehicle bodies comprising a vertical Web for attachment to a longitudinal frame member.

of a vehicle body, said web being first turned over on its upper edge to form a downwardly and backwardly inclined plane surface and then downwardly and inwardly to form a rearwardly inclined supporting for the ends of the toe boards of the boy and a vertical flange formed on the forward ed 'e of the web and turned outwardly at right angles thereto, said vertical flange terminating flush with the u per edge of the aforesaid backwardly inclined parallel thereto and again at neiaoao ing plate and toe board bracket adapted for ready attachment to the detachment from the corner framework of vehicle bodies comprising a main vertical member integrally uniting a laterally extending corner reinforcing and securing member and a laterally extending toe board supporting member lon gitudinally inclined to receive and support the toe board in an inclined position.

11. A body construction for vehicles comprising alsub-sill, a wind shield stileand a toe board bracket of integrally formed sheet metal having a portion thereof attached to the sub-sill and comprising a vertical web with a vertical flange formed at right angles to the web, said vertical flange abutting againstthe face of the stile and secured thereto, said web having an inclined upper edge which is turned over to form a support 'for the toe board,

In testimony whereof, we have signed our names to this specification.

ails. MCGLASHAN. j warren a. mares 

